finalfantasyfandomcom-20200222-history
Guardian Force
Guardian Forces (GF) are the summoned creatures of Final Fantasy VIII used by junctioning them to a character. Conceived and designed by Hiroyuki Ito, the GF govern major stat growth, elemental/status effect offense and defense, and the commands the character may use during battle. Each GF has a preset list of abilities they can learn, but through certain items can learn additional abilities and forget those that were previously learned. A total of twenty-two abilities can be learned. Profile Each Guardian Force possesses special characteristics and can appear in multiple forms as mighty autonomous energy bodies. Guardian Forces exist in specific energy fields and can reside within objects and living organisms. When a Guardian Force is junctioned to a human, two kinds of beings are brought together, and if the junctioner possesses a comparable consciousness, the Guardian Force will lose its solid form and can only manifest for limited periods of time. Guardian Forces give superhuman strength and enhance the users' body functions. Long-term junctioning causes memory loss (as seen with Selphie and the unnamed GF she junctioned when she was a child) because the Guardian Force draws power from the same section of the mind that stores memories. This, however, is only a plot point; junctioning has no negative effects on the characters during gameplay. Memory loss is stated to be the reason the use of Guardian Forces is widely criticized, and within Garden, Balamb Garden is the only school where their use has been approved. When designing the Guardian Forces, Tetsuya Nomura felt they should be unique beings and not humanoid, unlike the summoned monsters in many previous games. Ramuh, which had been the staple Lightning summon until Final Fantasy VIII, was thus replaced by Quezacotl, a bird-like entity, and Ifrit, who appears as a human-like being in Final Fantasy VII, was redesigned as a beast with lion features. Even the most humanoid Guardian Force, Siren, was designed to be more beast-like, wearing feathers to conceal her body instead of clothing, having a pair of wings descending from her head substitute for human hair, and having long and sharp toenails that resemble paws more than feet. Leviathan was the first Guardian Force created, which was included in a game demo. After receiving a positive reaction from players, Nomura decided to create the remaining sequences in a similar fashion. List of Guardian Forces There are sixteen Guardian Forces that can be junctioned and summoned by the summon command, and six that cannot be junctioned, and appear either randomly or are summoned with items. There are also two GFs, Griever and Tiamat, that only appear as enemies under Sorceress Ultimecia's control. Junctionable Non-junctionable Gameplay Support abilities and stats Most Guardian Forces can be junctioned onto a character, although there are a few that can't. A character can junction an unlimited number of Guardian Forces, gaining access to command abilities, support abilities and stat-boosting abilities. Final Fantasy VIII is the first game where summons have their own growth path, gaining levels and learning abilities. Abilities are learned via accumulating AP in battle. All Guardian Forces gain the same amount of AP from battle even if the GF or the character junctioning the GF is knocked out at the end of the battle. Experience Points, however, are a different matter: EXP is divided between all the GFs the character is currently junctioning, meaning the more GFs a character junctions, the less EXP each receives. Most GFs take 500 EXP to level up, but some take only 400, and Eden takes 1,000. GFs equipped to KO'd characters still gain EXP from battle even if the host doesn't and gain experience from boss battles; the only time GFs don't get EXP is when they are KO'd themselves. GFs get as much EXP as the host character would (shared among them) and get the kill bonus if the enemies died to a summon attack. The junctionable Guardian Forces have their own HP stat which can be boosted by leveling the GF up and by learning HP-boosting abilities on the GF. There are a number of GF medicine items that heal a GF's HP, and similarly to the Move HP Up ability, a GF's HP is restored by walking around on the field. Summoning :For the summon sequences, see: Guardian Force/Videos A Guardian Force can be called during battle with the GF command every junctionable GF learns by default. After the summoning has been initiated there is a charge period whereupon the GF's HP replaces the character's, and every attack the character takes damages the GF instead. This can be used for strategic advantage to use a GF as a shield to survive strong enemy attacks. If the GF dies before the charge period is finished, the summon is cancelled. Usually killing enemies boosts SeeD ranking, but enemies killed by Guardian Forces do not count toward this. CC Joker gives an enhancement called GF Report to the party's Battle Meter in the Balamb Garden training center that lets the player view the kills and KO's of each GF. Charge time and compatibility The charge time depends on the compatibility between the character and the GF, and the Battle Speed, which can be adjusted in the config. The greater the compatibility, the less time it takes to summon. The initial compatibility is around 600 for most characters, but Edea has higher compatibility with Guardian Forces than the other characters. Compatibility can be boosted with compatibility boosting items, by casting magic that is the same element as the Guardian Force (e.g. casting fire magic boosts compatibility with Ifrit) and by summoning the GF during battle. Boosting one GF's compatibility reduces another one's; Shiva, the ice-elemental GF, loses compatibility when a character uses fire magic, and also when Ifrit is summoned. Using compatibility items boosts the compatibility with the assigned GF, but slightly reduces (by 1~2 points) the compatibility with all other junctioned GFs. .]] Many junctionable GFs have another GF that is "opposed" to them that when summoned, reduces their compatibility with said character the most. Eden in many ways is an exception to the rules, with only minimal boost in compatibility when summoned to both itself and all other GFs the character has junctioned as well. The compatibility mechanic is intended to make players think which Guardian Forces to assign to which character, and to avoid switching junctions between characters regularly, however, as the charge time is never very long, compatibility doesn't actually have much impact on the gameplay. : Compatibility = 6000 - 5 * ShownCompatibility Charge time is calculated by: : Duration = Compatibility * BattleSpeed * 0.9143 / 32 Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania Base compatibility Compatibility modifiers The exact compatibility values in this chart are from Absolute Steve's Final Fantasy VIII Walkthrough. Damage calculation and the Boost ability Every GF except for Diablos, Carbuncle, Cerberus, and Cactuar learns the Boost ability. During the summon animation, the player can tap to increase damage, but if the player fails to boost the GF properly, it may end up dealing less damage than it otherwise would have. The damage ranges between 75% and 250% of the normal damage. The percentage rises when the player taps correctly, but drops to 75% if the player presses the button during a time a red cross appears over the cursor. GFs with longer summon animations are the easiest to boost. With battle speed set to medium, the list below displays the approximate length of time allowing the player to boost and the approximate value of % increase for summon damage. Each GF uses the following formula for determining the amount of damage they deal. The Boost modifier is equal to 100 if the player does not attempt to boost the damage or does not have the ability learned. The LevelMod and Power values vary per GF. : Damage = LevelMod * Level / 10 + Power + PowerMod : Damage = Damage * (265 - TargetSpr) / 8 : Damage = Damage * Power / 256 : Damage = Damage * Boost / 100 : Damage = Damage * (100 + SummonMagBonus) / 100 If the Guardian Force is elemental, the target's elemental defense attributes affect the damage outcome. : Damage = Damage * (900 - ElemDef) / 100 Elemental Defense starts at 800 (0%), 900 nullifies damage and 1000 absorbs it. If an enemy is shown to be weak against an element, its Elemental Defense is below 800. If damage becomes negative (due to high Elemental Defense), the target is healed by that amount. List of GF attacks Other appearances ''Final Fantasy Dimensions II Certain Eidolons reference the GFs of ''Final Fantasy VIII in multiple ways. Specific variants of the Diabolos, Gigantuar, Cerberus, and Ifrit summons are based on their Final Fantasy VIII appearance. While not sharing the same appearance and English name, the Glasya Labolas summon is based on the Doomtrain GF, sharing the same Japanese name and Runaway Train summon attack. In addition, its final artwork is based on Doomtrain's color scheme. As a nod to Siren from Final Fantasy VIII, first Siren signet gains feather-like hair for its final artwork. Lastly, the Shinatsuhiko Eidolon's overall design is heavily inspired by the Pandemona Guardian Force from Final Fantasy VIII, who is also based on the Fujin deity. In addition, Shinatsuhiko's Tornado Zone summon attack was also Pandemona's summon attack in Final Fantasy VIII. ''Dissidia Final Fantasy'' (2008) Ifrit appears as an auto summon in Dissidia Final Fantasy, boosting the summoner's Bravery for 50%. It activates when player receives stage Bravery. Shiva appears as an auto summon, preventing the opponent's Bravery from rising for 13 seconds. It activates when opponent's Bravery drops to zero. Carbuncle appears as a manual summon, matching opponent's Bravery to the summoner's Bravery. Phoenix appears as a manual summon, and for 50 seconds, if the player is afflicted with break, will automatically "Reraise" with base Bravery and opponent will not receive stage Bravery. Alexander appears as a manual summon that prevents player's Bravery from changing for 25 seconds. Leviathan appears as an auto summon that decrements opponent's Bravery by 20 per second for 33 seconds and activates when opponent receives stage Bravery. Cactuar appears as a manual summon that reduces opponent's Bravery by 1000, but does not inflict break. Tonberry appears as a manual summon that makes it so after 26 seconds the opponent loses Bravery equal to the amount of HP the summoner has lost. ''Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy The same summons return in ''Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy. ''Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade Some of the Guardian Forces appear in ''Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. ;Ability Cards FFAB ChocoFire - Selphie SR.png|ChocoFire (SR). FFAB ChocoFire - Selphie SR+.png|ChocoFire (SR+). FFAB Brotherly Love - Rinoa SSR.png|Brotherly Love (SSR). FFAB Eternal Breath - Squall SSR.png|Eternal Breath (SSR). FFAB Runaway Train - Selphie SSR.png|Runaway Train (SSR). FFAB Silent Voice - Quistis SSR.png|Silent Voice (SSR). FFAB Tornado Zone - Zell SSR.png|Tornado Zone (SSR). FFAB Brotherly Love - Rinoa SSR+.png|Brotherly Love (SSR+). FFAB Eternal Breath - Squall SSR+.png|Eternal Breath (SSR+). FFAB Runaway Train - Selphie SSR+.png|Runaway Train (SSR+). FFAB Silent Voice - Quistis SSR+.png|Silent Voice (SSR+). FFAB Tornado Zone - Zell SSR+.png|Tornado Zone (SSR+). FFAB Dark Messenger - Squall UR.png|Dark Messenger (UR). FFAB Runaway Train - Selphie UR.png|Runaway Train (UR). FFAB Thunder Storm - Rinoa UR.png|Thunder Storm (UR). FFAB Zantetsuken - Gilgamesh UR.png|Zantetsuken (UR). FFAB ChocoFire - Selphie UR+.png|ChocoFire (UR+). FFAB Zantetsuken - Gilgamesh UR+.png|Zantetsuken (UR+). FFAB MoombaMoomba - Squall UUR.png|MoombaMoomba (UUR). FFAB Chef's Knife - Rinoa UUR+.png|Chef's Knife (UUR+). ;Legend Cards FFAB Brotherly Love - Rinoa Legend SSR.png|Brotherly Love (SSR). FFAB Runaway Train - Selphie Legend SSR.png|Runaway Train (SSR). FFAB Brotherly Love - Rinoa Legend SSR+.png|Brotherly Love (SSR+). FFAB Runaway Train - Selphie Legend SSR+.png|Runaway Train (SSR+). FFAB Runaway Train - Selphie Legend UR.png|Runaway Train (UR). FFAB Silent Voice - Quistis Legend UR.png|Silent Voice (UR). FFAB Thunder Storm - Rinoa Legend UR.png|Thunder Storm (UR). FFAB Chef's Knife - Rinoa Legend UUR.png|Chef's Knife (UUR). FFAB MoombaMoomba - Squall Legend UUR.png|MoombaMoomba (UUR). FFAB Zantetsuken Squall Legend CR.png|Zantetsuken (CR). ;Other FFAB FFVIII Event - Guardian Forces.png|''FFVIII'' event Guardian Forces. ''Pictlogica Final Fantasy Some Guardian Forces appear in ''Pictlogica Final Fantasy. PFF Quetzalcoatl Sprite.png|Quezacotl. PFF Diabolos Sprite.png|Diablos. PFF Pandemona Sprite.png|Pandemona. ''Final Fantasy Record Keeper Some Guardian Forces appear in ''Final Fantasy Record Keeper. FFRK Bahamut FFVIII.png|Bahamut. FFRK Cerberus FFVIII.png|Cerberus. FFRK GF Doomtrain.png|Doomtrain. FFRK Odin FFVIII.png|Odin. FFRK Sacred & Minotaur FFVIII.png|Sacred & Minotaur. FFRK Thunderstorm FFVIII.png|Thunderstorm. ''Mobius Final Fantasy MFF Alexander FFVIII.jpg|Alexander. MFF Bahamut FFVIII.jpg|Bahamut. Mobius Brothers.png|Brothers. MFF Cerberus FFVIII.png|Cerberus. MFF Doomtrain FFVIII.jpg|Doomtrain. MFF Leviathan FFVIII.jpg|Leviathan. MFF MiniMog FFVIII.jpg|MiniMog. MFF Moomba FFVIII.jpg|Moomba. MFF Odin FFVIII.jpg|Odin. MFF Pandemona FFVIII.jpg|Pandemona. MFF Phoenix FFVIII.jpg|Phoenix. Final Fantasy Trading Card Game Some Guardian Forces appear in ''Final Fantasy Trading Card Game with cards usually the same element as the summon was in Final Fantasy VIII. Quezacotl TCG.png|Quezacotl. Ifrit-TradingCard.jpg|Ifrit. Siren2 TCG.png|Siren. Leviathan2 TCG.png|Leviathan. Doomtrain TCG.png|Doomtrain. Eden PR TCG.png|Eden. ''Triple Triad Some Guardian Forces appear on Triple Triad cards in the version available via ''Final Fantasy Portal App. 164a Cerberus.png|Cerberus Merchandise When Final Fantasy VIII was first released many of the Guardian Forces were released as action figures. Different versions of this set exist: the Japanese and the North American versions, and full colored and colorful translucent versions. The Japanese GF figures each included a piece of the airship Ragnarok, able to be built if one collected all its pieces; the translucent versions would also give translucent Ragnarok pieces. *Ifrit, includes the Tonberry figure. **Bonus Ragnarok Part: Arm *Shiva, includes MiniMog and Carbuncle figures. **Bonus Ragnarok Part: Main Gatling Gun (Under belly) *Odin & Sleipnir: Included Zantetsuken sword. Sleipnir's (horse) third set of legs have been cut off with graphic detail (in the myths of Odin, Sleipnir had eight legs). This detail is not present in the in-game model. **Bonus Ragnarok Part: Body/Neck *Cerberus: Includes Angelo figure. **Bonus Ragnarok Part: Head & Neck *Siren: Includes harp and Cactuar figure. **Bonus Ragnarok Part: Arm *Diablos **Bonus Ragnarok Part: unknown *Bahamut **Bonus Ragnarok Part: unknown *Gilgamesh: Includes three of the four swords: Excaliber (Blue), Excalipoor (Red), Masamune. Only one hand can carry a sword. **Bonus Ragnarok Part: unknown Serial-numbered statues featuring the party members alongside the Guardian Forces were also released in limited editions of this time as . Later on, the Guardian Forces have appeared in Square Enix's monster series of figurines. Shiva-Minimog-Carbuncle.jpg|Shiva with Carbuncle and MiniMog (and a piece of Ragnarok). Ffviii shiva action figure clear.JPG|Translucent version of a figure (Shiva). Seifer-Odin-Statue.JPG|Odin and Seifer statue. TranscendentArtistsCollectionFinalFantasyVIII5.jpg|Selphie, Quistis and Leviathan statue. TranscendentArtistsCollectionFinalFantasyVIII3.jpg|Rinoa and Siren statue. Zell-Irvine-Diablos.jpg|Zell, Irvine and Diablos statue. FFVIII-creatures-Odin.JPG|Different versions of Odin from Final Fantasy Creatures Vol 2. Alexander-FFVIII-Creatures-Kai-Vol5.png|Alexander from Final Fantasy Creatures Kai Vol 5. Phoenix-Final-Fantasy-Creatures-Vol5.png|Phoenix from Final Fantasy Creatures Kai Vol 5. Trivia *Only three Guardian Forces are obtained during the storyline—Quezacotl, Shiva and Ifrit. All others are optional. *The player can get an early indication on the GFs' purported memory alternating side effect from the Study Panel. Selphie writes about it on her diary on the day the player departs for the Timber mission. References de:Guardian Force pl:Guardian Force Category:Guardian Forces in Final Fantasy VIII Category:Summon magic in Final Fantasy VIII Category:Races in Final Fantasy VIII Category:Summons Category:Summon magic